


you feel it in the air (something's going down)

by sharperobjects (orphan_account)



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Before Barbara becomes Oracle, Crossover, F/M, Multi, but I'll explain necessary stuff in the notes, flarrow, hints of Bruce Wayne/Barbara Gordon, it'll be easier if you know the basics though, mostly canon, slight AU, you don't need to completely know the batfamily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-11 13:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3327776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/sharperobjects
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oh! Oliver, this is Barbara Gordon. We were roommates at MIT." Felicity grins as she introduces the redhead by her side. "Barbara, this is Oliver Queen, my -" And then Felicity falters, because she doesn't know what to say. </p><p>Her boss? Oliver doesn't own QC anymore, and even though he is kinda her boss during their extra curricular activities, her active vigilantism isn't something she wants to tell her best friend about. </p><p>Barbara probably thinks vigilantes are lunatics with too much time to spare. </p><p>×</p><p>Also known as the AU where Barbara Gordon and Felicity Smoak went to MIT together, graduated, and went their separate ways. Until 5 years later when Barbara suddenly turns up at Starling  and Felicity is thrilled. Felicity however, (and the rest of Team Arrow) is not so thrilled when Batgirl shows up (totally definitely just a coincidence)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. Holy shit. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I've been thinking about this plot idea for like months now (I'm not even kidding). I love Barbara so much. She's such a genius and I feel like no one ever notices it. And she's so much like Felicity! I guess that's when I decided those two should be bffs? They could totally conquer the world man. 
> 
> Anyway this first chapter is just a prologue, a short piece about their time in MIT. Hopefully you guys like it! Please leave a comment/kudos! 
> 
> (Couldn't have done this without my lovely beta RayneTreyson so thanks babe! And the story title is from Broken Town by Kevin Roentgen. I highly suggest everyone watch the Gotham promo where they played that song, it's so damn good!)
> 
> UPDATE: I'm abandoning this work and orphaning because I've lost interest in Arrow. I just feel that, as a show, it's failing. I love the Flash, but if I was to continue this story, Babs would be spending all her time in Central, not Starling, and that's not fair to the readers because this story started out as a Babs + Team Arrow fic.

Felicity presses her lips against each other as her fingers fly across the keyboard. The irritating click-clack noise of someone wearing heels pacing behind her slowly starts driving her up a wall.

"How much longer?!" There's suddenly a head right next to hers and Felicity does her best not to elbow it.

"I am hacking into a private server that I do not have access to in order to delete nudes that you accidentally got uploaded so I apologise if it's not like in the movies were I just press a few buttons and everything's gone, okay?" And then she feels a little shitty so she adds "Calm down, I'm almost done."

It's a couple of minutes later when Felicity throws her hands in the air and swivels around in her chair to face the brunette on her bed. "I'm done! Your nudes are completely, most definitely off the server."

Carla (or was it Kara? Felicity couldn't make out much when the girl stormed into her room in a sobbing mess) leaps to her feet and launches herself at Felicity.

"Oh my god thank you thank you thank you so much you're the best I love you my friends told me you're the best and they're totally right oh my god I love you!"

Felicity just nods and pats her awkwardly on the back. "Just, you know, don't accidentally send nudes to your vengeful ex boyfriend who then decides the most appropriate choice of action to take is to upload them. I mean it's totally your choice who you want to send your nudes to and whether or not you want to take them in the first place seeing as it's you know, your body so your choice but maybe it'd be better to not send them to exes. But I guess if you're into that then that's not my business. But you did come to me for help to get rid of them so I guess you aren't actually into it in which case maybe you should - " Felicity suddenly halts when she sees the look Carla/Kara is giving her.

"Um, I meant to say you're welcome."

Thankfully Carla/Kara is still high on gratefulness that she ignores the babbling. "I'm just so happy this is over. God I was so worried that it'd spread and I'd lose my scholarship and get suspended or whatever. But now thanks to you no one is ever going to see them!" Carla/Kara grins gleefully.

"Um yeah about that..." Carla/Kara's grin is completely wiped off her face.

Felicity takes a deep breath. "You sent your nudes to Dan, and then he uploaded them to a server, right? So I managed to get the pictures off the server, so that no one will be able to download them. But I can't delete them off of Dan's phone because it's saved in his phone, you see?"

Carla/Kara emits a loud, high pitched shriek that Felicity wasn't even sure humans were capable of making. "You mean he could still upload them again?!"

Felicity cringes. "Well he could but I'm keeping my eye on the server so the moment he uploads anything I will take it down."

"But it's still in his phone! He could show them to everybody!"

Felicity just has a broad grin on her face. "Oh, don't worry about that. I have my best person on it as we speak. Or, technically, as we have been speaking, because I dispatched her the moment you came in and told me everything. I mean obviously I had to do something about that since it's pretty obvious you can't delete stuff off a phone remotely, right?"

Carla/Kara grinds her teeth.

"Come on we're in MIT you can't be that dumb."

"I'm from Biochemistry. You're in Cyber Security and Computer Sciences."

Felicity nods, agreeing. "With a minor in theoretical physics, which I am so dropping. I mean, I know I've only been here for a semester -"

"You're a first year?!"

" - but I abhor the physics department. And physics. My roommate though, the nice sweet girl who's currently stealing your ex boyfriend's phone and destroying it - "

" - oh my god - "

" - she just loves it. Not enough to want to major in it, of course, but she's such a problem solver that it really gets her going, you know? She's like, a genius. Did you know you know she's only 16? Like, how many people do you know who joined MIT at 16? Okay yes I did enrol this year and I'm 17 - "

" You're 17?!"

" - so I guess we are both kinda in the same boat, you know, being younger than the other first years and being labeled as geniuses and child prodigies and whatever. Honestly I think that's why they made us each roommates, cos we're so alike. Except when it comes to physical stuff though." Felicity pauses for a second, realising exactly what she'd said, and then face palms.

"Crap. I'm so sorry about that; I keep accidentally saying all these stupid innuendos and it's so embarrassing. Anyway, where was I?"

Carla/Kara just blinks.

"Right, physical stuff. I mean like fitness, and that kind of thing? She's super fit. She works out like every damn day. And she knows how to fight, like really fight. We almost got mugged this once and she just wiped the floor with that poor guy's ass. She's like, super badass. So, you know, that's why you can totally trust me when I tell you she'll get Dan's phone."

The locks on the dorm door rattle and Carla/Kara (Felicity should really ask for her name) jumps. The door swings open, and the owner of the world's most reddest (and right now, wettest) hair enters.

"Jeez what did you go get a bath? " Felicity, still on the roller chair, rolls to a nearby towel and tosses it at the redhead who's removing her drenched clothing as delicately as she can.

"Douchebag lives in Alpha Kappa Delta, which in case you haven't noticed, is in the complete opposite direction of our dorms. I had to run all the way across the campus."

The redhead looks up finally, as she dries her hair, and notices Carla/Kara.

"You the one who sent the nudes?"

Felicity is pretty sure Carla/Kara's brain is still recovering from being short circuited. She nods, her mouth still open in a sort of 'O'.

"Did a factory data reset on Dan's phone - pretty easy to pickpocket it actually, douchebag kept it in his back pocket - and then broke it, took out the SIM, broke that too, and dumped the pieces in campus trash cans, so yeah, you're safe."

Carla/Kara renters the world of the fully conscious and alert and nods. "Um...thanks. I didn't get your name...?"

The redhead, done changing, just looks at her and grins. "I'm Barbara Gordon."

Carla/Kara just gets this weird impish look on her face, the same one she gave Felicity when she deleted the pictures on the server.

"Please tell me you didn't make contact." Felicity asks from where she's sitting.

Barbara bites her lip and tries the most sheepish smile she can pull off.

"Oh my god." Felicity drops her head to her hands. "What! He's such a douchebag Felicity!"

"So you slapped him?"

Barbara grins like a madman. Felicity's heart drops.

"So I sucker punched him, and told him to never ever do anything even remotely like that again."

"Yeah, okay, if the head of discipline comes barging in here looking for you I am so not protecting you." Felicity wheels back to her desk.

"Well um, I guess I just wanna say thank you. And um," Carla/Kara looks at the both of them and actually blushes holy shit, and continues: "my sorority's throwing a party next Wednesday, do you maybe, you know, wanna come?"

"Oh. A party. Wow." Felicity isn't quite sure how to comprehend this.

"Next Wednesday...when is that?" Barbara asks, looking for a calendar. "The 29th!" Carla/Kara supplies, her eyes all lit up.

Felicity and Barbara immediately groan. "What?"

"We have a theoretical physics assignment due the next morning at 8." Felicity explains, and the smile on Carla/Kara's face falls.

"Aw, that sucks. Well, maybe next time. Thanks again! You guys saved my life!" Carla/Kara hugs each of them ardently before leaving.

"A theoretical physics assignment? " Barbara raises her eyebrows. Felicity shrugs. "It worked, didn't it? Besides I couldn't exactly tell her that we couldn't turn up for her party because we'd be too busy watching Harrison Wells get interviewed on ScienceTalk."

Felicity can almost see little hearts floating around Barbara's head. "Ugh please stop."

Barbara frowns. "Stop what?"

"Going into a trance every time someone mentions Harrison Wells. "

Felicity dies a little bit inside when the little shit grins like a hyena. "Dude, it's not my fault if he's that hot okay."

"You know who's hot? Who's actually hot?"

"Please don't say Cooper - "

"COOPER."

Barbara prays to any and all deities to save her and grabs her nearby textbook. She shoves her hands away in the general direction of Felicity. "Keep your shitty taste in guys away from me."

Felicity turns back around to her desk but she still gets the last word in. "Keep your old guy crushes away from me."

A pillow flies at her head from the other side of the room.


	2. does this mean we're friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! 55 kudos, 4 comments and 8 bookmarks for one chapter?! Thank you so much! Continue showing your support! Also if you have the time do leave comments too I love chatting with you guys and knowing what you're thinking about the fic! 
> 
> Notes regrading the batfamily that you need to know: 
> 
> 1\. Dick Grayson was the first Robin, now he's Nightwing. Barbara is in an on again/off again relationship with him in the comics. Seriously they're super dramatic but no one can deny they're the best of friends and they know each other so damn well.  
> 2\. Tim Drake-Wayne was the third Robin, he's now Red Robin. Tim is one of the few people as smart as Barbara (but he's not as good as her when it comes to computers and etc). Other than that he's almost on par with Babs.  
> 3\. Dick and Tim have both been adopted by Bruce Wayne (Batman) so they're adoptive brothers. 
> 
> Will you believe me if I told you it took like 40 minutes for me to upload this? I did it on my phone and I accidentally fucked up and deleted everything I wrote and had to go copy it from what I sent to my beta and then re-edit it and then I fucked up the formatting so I had to go copy it again and edit once more. Ugh. It's 12:30am now. Whatever man, you guys have been so nice to me (55 kudos!!!) and you absolutely deserve this chapter even if it means I have to sacrifice sleep and test my patience! Hope you enjoy! Please leave comments and kudos and don't forget to subscribe and bookmark!

Oliver races through the cold night air. It's a Monday, so that means he's chasing gangbangers. Today it's the Royal Flush Gang. Or, what's left of it. Oliver remembers going up against them in his early days of green leather, spandex and all. He can't believe he's actually cherishing those days. Just normal, street type assholes and corporate douches whose names were all neatly spelled out for him in a tiny little book. Now he's dealing with ex-soldiers with superpower serums and drugs that cause hallucinations. Life was way easier for Zero Year Ollie.

"There's a building under construction to your north, the Ace of Spades is heading in." Felicity's voice crackles through his earpiece. Oliver picks up his speed. He enters the first floor, and there's nothing around except plastic sheets and boxes, so he heads upstairs to the second floor. The second floor's technically a roof right now, seeing as the building's still not finished. There are pillars here and there, and the Arrow moves carefully, checking every one for a hiding Kyle Reston.

"He's not here." The Arrow says after clearing the floor, eyes scanning the nearby rooftops for any movement. He doesn't hear anything. "Felicity?"

"You should really stop saying her name out loud." A voice calls out from behind him, and Oliver turns around, an arrow nocked and pointing at the source of the voice. "Looking for this?" The female calls as she steps out, and Oliver turns to look.

It's Kyle Reston, the Ace of Spades, knocked out and tied to a pillar. Oliver's eyes flick back, bow still drawn. 

The first thing that catches his eyes is her fiery red hair. The second thing is her outfit. It's a dark black suit, with a yellow overtone. But what he really can't tear his eyes away from is the bat symbol on her chest.

"Aren't you a little far from Gotham? " The Arrow asks, his voice gravelly.

Batgirl looks surprised. "Didn't think people would recognise me out here." She says, stepping a little closer.

"What are you doing in my city?"

"Came to check you out."

"To check me out?"

"Well there's not a lot of us. Costumed vigilantes. So, figured we should get to know each other. Be friendly, learn about each others methods et cetera et cetera."

The Arrow frowns. "And this?" He asks, pointing to the still unconscious Ace of Spades.

"Normal people bring a basket of goodies when they meet new people. Vigilantes bring tied up criminals." Batgirl grins.

"Right." Oliver's not sure how to feel about this. She did just bag him Kyle Reston, but Oliver doesn't feel like he can trust her just yet. He doesn't know a goddamn thing about her, except that she's probably got the reddest hair in the universe.

"Let me guess, now you want to take off our masks and reveal our identities to each other?" The Arrow asks, eyes narrowing.

Batgirl shakes her head. "I can't tell you who I am, not yet, Mr Queen." She does this half smile, like she's amused but also a little apologetic.

Oliver growls. Batgirl raises her arms, defensive. "I'm a Bat, it's my job to know these things."

"And I'm supposed to trust you?"

"I'd tell you who I am, but there's a slight...conflict of interest of sorts. I need to deal with it first. I'll tell you soon, I swear." Batgirl says and she sounds sincere.

Oliver's about to tell her to suck it, when a multitude of police sirens start blaring, getting louder by the second as they whizz past his location. He turns away from Batgirl and sees them heading towards 52nd and Waid. 

He can deal with Batgirl later. Right now, his city needs him.

"We'll talk about - " and the Arrow halts when he turns around because he's talking to air. She's gone. And he didn't even hear a thing. Damn it. Oliver grits his teeth and his fingers tighten around his bow.

There's a crackle in his ear before the unmistakable voice of one Felicity Smoak is back in his ear.

"Oliver? Oliver! Can you hear me? Comms went down, and so did street cams. It's almost like an EMP! What happened?"

"We've got a visitor."

* * *

 

Team Arrow is, for once, not in the Foundry.

They're not that far away though, Felicity thinks, perched on one of the bar chairs of the Verdant drinking something that had way too much alcohol for 10 am.

She gets a pass today because she's had what can be described as probably the worst week of her entire life.

It started with Oliver losing Queen Consolidated. And then there was the bad date. And by the way, Felicity thinks it's a bad date not because the restaurant they were in exploded (which did contribute for sure), but mostly because Oliver more or less told her they can't be together. Well, she told him that. Kind of. But she does want to be with him. Right?

Felicity opts to take another sip of - what was it called? Yeah, The Dark Night, instead of trying to figure out where her relationship with Oliver stands.

And then she remembers Sara Lance is dead.

Fuck, Felicity thinks. Sara's dead and she's trying to figure out if Oliver's into her or not. Fuck.

She takes another sip of her drink. In her head, Felicity sees Sara smile. Her signature side smile. "You're still cute." She'd said, grinning. And as much as Felicity was jealous, she couldn't not feel Sara's bubbly energy just dispersing itself in the room. That's the thing about Sara Lance. Sara Lance was an A Class rebellious dumb kid. Sara Lance slept with her sister's boyfriend, and went on a boat ride with him. Sara Lance got deserted in the middle of the sea when said boat went down. Sara Lance was found by a dangerous man and survived him. Sara Lance gets deserted in the sea once again and this time, gets found by an actual league of assassins called the League of Assassins.

And Sara Lance makes it through the whole goddamn thing alive and comes home, still able to smile.

Felicity feels her eyes get teary. Dig must notice, because he's brushing her knuckles in the soft, kind way he always does. The guy might be a 6 feet made-of-only-muscles tough guy, but he's also one of the teddy bear-est people she knows. She smiles at him weakly.

He returns the smile and then his eyes meet something over Felicity's shoulder. She follows his gaze.

It's Oliver. By the looks of it, he's not drinking whatever concoction Diggle's put in front of him. He's just staring staring staring at the ground, almost like he's waiting for it to open up and swallow him whole.

Felicity doesn't even stop to think before she grabs whatever's left of The Dark Night and joins him at the stairs.

Oliver looks up when she's close. "Hey," he greets her, a smile on his face that doesn't quite reach his eyes, as he scoots a little so she can sit next to him.

"Yo." Felicity says, and Oliver throws her a 'really?' look. "And I'm never saying that again." He chuckles, softly, just like he always does when she says something stupid like that.

She doesn't know what to say to him. Should she talk work? Discuss their 'relationship'? Bring up Sara? Luckily, Oliver saves her from the decision.

"She always had this...happy, way about her. Just - after everything. She kept telling me that she was gone and that she was dark but she wasn't all gone. There was still some part of Sara left in the Canary. I just - fuck, I don't know if she knew that. Before she died." Oliver says. That's the longest Felicity's heard him say about Sara since her death. She sighs.

"Laurel was talking to me the other day, about something that happened the night of, you know, that night. And she said that Sara was insistent that she was a bad person and that she'd lost all humanity in her, and Laurel told her that if that was true, then there's no reason for them to have named her something as beautiful as Taer-al Safer, as the Canary." Felicity tells him, and he smiles softly. "Remind me to thank Laurel for that." he says, and Felicity laughs slightly.

There's a moment of silence between them, but she's not so upset anymore.

"You know, there was this once we all went out together. Me, Laurel, Sara and Tommy. It was some nearby frat party or something..." Oliver starts, and he recounts the whole story. Or at least he tries to. It gets so ridiculous to the point where Oliver can't finish his sentences because he's laughing so hard and Felicity's laughing because he's laughing, and they both probably look so goddamn stupid. When he finally finishes, Felicity is wiping her eyes.

"Oh my god, are you serious? I can't believe it. I mean I had crazy stories too, which I will never ever tell you, but I have never done anything that stupid in my life. Holy shit. And you didn't get arrested?" Oliver shakes his head. "Wow." Felicity tips her head back and finishes her drink.

There's the sound of the doors to the Verdant being opened and Felicity frowns. The bar wasn't actually open yet, and if it wasn't the 3 of them (and it sure as hell wasn't Thea) who'd it be? Roy? Laurel?

"I'll check it out." Diggle announces to them and goes.

"What's the most trouble you've gotten into?" Oliver asks, his head leaning on the railings of the staircase.

"I'd say probably almost getting arrested for helping a vigilante." Felicity tells him, a glint in her eyes.

"That doesn't count." Oliver counters.

"No?" Felicity grins.

"Nope. That's a public service." Oliver replies, smiling.

"Right," Felicity says, laughing softly.

"Felicity," Diggle calls out and the both of them turn. "You've got a visitor." He points to someone behind him. Felicity frowns. Who the hell could it be? God, she hopes it's not her mom.

The second Felicity sees a red mane of hair, her jaw drops.

"Holy shit." She thinks she whispers it. She's not sure, because she can't quite think straight. "Oh my god." She gets up to her feet, her hand covering her mouth.

It's Barbara Gordon.

It's Barbara Goddamn Joan Freaking Gordon.

Babs is grinning at Felicity like somebody just told her she won the lottery. Felicity's pretty sure she's got the same exact look on her face.

Ignoring the fact that she's in a dress and that she's wearing heels, Felicity takes off.

(she really shouldn't be running in heels considering the Pineapple Incident of '08, but whatever)

The two girls knock into each other with such a force that they're shuffling for a few seconds before they stabilise. They could totally win an award for tightest hug in the world. There's a lot of squealing and shrieking and Felicity thinks she might be crying a little.

"HOLY shit."

"I know!" Babs says.

"HOLY shit."

"Tell me about it!" She says. They finally separate, arms still slung around each other waists.

Someone clears their throat. Both of them look up at see Oliver staring, a trademark "Ollie Queen" smile on his face.

"Oh! Oliver, this is Barbara Gordon. We were roommates at MIT." Felicity introduces the redhead by her side. "Barbara, this Oliver Queen, my -" And then Felicity falters, because she doesn't know what to say.

Her boss? Oliver doesn't own QC anymore, and even though he is kinda her boss during their extra curricular activities, her active vigilantism isn't something she wants to tell her friend about.

Barbara probably thinks vigilantes are crazy people.

" - friend." Oliver finishes for her, and him and Barbara shake hands.

Diggle reenters from where he'd disappeared off to. "Uh, there's a problem in the basement that we need to attend to, Mr Queen."

"Oh is everything all right?" Barbara asks, looking from Oliver to Felicity. "Yeah, it's probably fine, I'll just go check it out." Oliver says, and with Diggle, bid the girls goodbye.

"God, how long has it been?" Felicity asks, ushering Barbara to the bar counter.

"5 years? Give or take a couple of months." Barbara replies, still smiling. "I've missed you, Fee. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Good. Was working at Queen Consolidated, but I think I just lost that job. Ever heard of Ray Palmer?" At Barbara's nod, she continues. "He just bought the company."

"Shit." Barbara responds. Felicity waves her hand in the air. "I'll be fine, I'll figure something out. What have you been up to?"

"Ah, not much. I did a brief stint as a librarian, believe it or not."

"Let me guess, they fired you because you were screwing in the library instead of doing whatever librarians are supposed to do?"

"Oh fuck you." Barbara replies, laughing. "No, but I was a sexy librarian."

"There we go!" Felicity exclaims. "So what are you doing in Starling?"

"Grad school."

"Another Master's? What, the one we both got at MIT wasn't enough?"

"I'm bored."

"That's a great reason to go to grad school, Babs, really."

Barbara shoves at her arm. "Screw you. It's this collab course between Starling and Central U."

"So how long are you staying here?"

"A while, probably."

"Where are you staying?"

"Four seasons."

"Well, you need to go and pack up all your stuff. You're moving in with me." Felicity decrees.

"Might I remind you that the last time we were roommates - "

" - we almost conquered the world? Come on, it's perfect. We're like Chandler and Joey!"

"More of Monica and Rachel, but yeah I get your point."

"So?" Felicity asks, grinning.

"So yes, I will stay with you." Barbara says finally, beaming. Felicity squeals.

"This is going to be so great!"

* * *

"And...done. The program has been uploaded and I have access to the Arrowcave's network. Ooh, The Program - that's a good name!"

Barbara hears a sigh from her phone. "No, it's terrible. And I can't believe you haven't named your software yet. You've been building it for what - a year?"

Barbara makes a face, even though Tim can't see it. "Great work takes time, little brother."

He groans. "You do realise that if I'm your 'little brother' then Dick is also your 'brother' and you dated him?"

"Ugh, okay point taken." Barbara replies, and stretches. She's lying on Felicity's couch, the latter having left about an hour ago citing "work stuff". Barbara waved her off, and then fired up her laptop so that she could check out whatever "work stuff" had come up for Felicity and the Arrow.

Barbara isn't one to mother hen, so she doesn't feel like she should be stopping Felicity (also it's a little hypocritical of her if she does) but she does feel a little unsure of whether it's the best thing for Felicity right now. Or, you know, ever.

Dammit. She's being a mother hen.

"Felicity has a right to do whatever she wants to, and if that includes helping a vigilante, she can damn well do it if she pleases and you don't get to tell her no." Barbara reminds herself out loud.

There's a soft chuckle from her phone. "Are you falling into the mother hen trap, Babs?"

She may not be able to see him, but Barbara just knows he's smirking.

"You know Tim, when I said I'd call you while you were writing reports to keep you company, I really thought you'd be sassing me less and appreciating me more."

"I can sass you and appreciate you at the same time."

"Yeah we all know what a great multitasker you are. One more sassy remark out of your mouth and I swear I will lock you out of your own network."

"Really?" Tim asks. Barbara grins.

A couple of minutes later, Tim swears. "What the f - Barbara!"

"Yes Timmy?" She asks, a wide smile on her face.

"Did you just lock me out of my own network?"

"Well I had to prove a point."

"Congratulations." Tim says, stiff. "Now let me back in."

Barbara just laughs and undoes the password change.

"I'm getting some chatter from Team Arrow, gotta check it out. Call you when I can?"

"Sure." Barbara's about to hang up when Tim speaks again. "Hey, Babs?"

"Yeah?" she asks, frowning. He pauses, and then:

"Be careful, okay?"

Barbara presses her lips together. "Yeah, sure. Absolutely." She replies, with faux cheeriness.

Pushing what Tim had said, and more importantly why he'd said it, to the back of her head, Barbara turns up her laptop speakers.

"...makes no sense. I mean, if you're doing it for money why would you kidnap a city alderman but leave his Rolex on the dashboard of his car?" Felicity asks.

Barbara pulls up SCPD's recently filed reports on the side and scans the one regarding the missing alderman.

"Maybe it's not a robbery." Oliver says.

"Well if it's not a robbery it could then be a multitude of things related to any one of the 328 bills that he's helped pass. There's no time to look through them and figure out which." Felicity voices out.

Barbara racks her brain. Suddenly, there's a pop up on one of Felicity's computers, which Barbara has mirrored on her laptop.

"What was that?" Roy asks over the speakers as Barbara checks it out.

"That doesn't make any sense..." Felicity says, in sync with Barbara's thoughts.

"What?" Oliver asks.

"One of the Alderman's cards was just used at a local store. I'm pulling up the store's camera feed, maybe we'll have a visual on the kidnappers."

"I thought it wasn't a robbery, why'd they take his cards then?" Barbara hears Diggle ask.

Felicity sighs and when the footage plays on Barbara's laptop, she knows why.

"It was used by a very ragged man to buy water, beer and sandwiches." Felicity announces.

"They probably realised that he had his wallet on him and dumped it somewhere, and our lucky homeless guy must've picked it up." Diggle says.

Barbara hears Felicity sigh. "And our one good lead goes to waste."

Barbara frowns. If the kidnappers didn't leave the Alderman's wallet where they grabbed him, then they must've done so on their way to wherever they're taking him, so...

Barbara smirks, and presses the unmute button.

"It hasn't gone to waste."

There's a high pitched shriek that Barbara identifies as Felicity. "Who the hell is this?" She hears Oliver growl.

"Your friendly neighbourhood Batgirl."

"How did you get into my systems?!" Felicity sputters, and Barbara can hear her finger clacking on the keyboard. "I piggybacked your comms system. You should switch up your radio frequencies. Anyway, we've got more important things to deal with, like the alderman."

There's a pause, in which Barbara imagines the Team is considering what to do.

Finally, she hears Oliver's voice again. "What do you have?"

"Does this mean we're friends?"

"Batgirl..." He growls, and Barbara only repeats herself. And maybe she's biting her lip so she doesn't laugh. Maybe.

"Fine."

"Great! Okay so, Felicity - "

"- oh god she knows my name -"

"The alderman's card wasn't at the scene of the kidnapping, so clearly they tossed it out afterwards, right?"

"Yes, and a homeless guy picked it up."

"Homeless people usually don't travel too far to find a supplies store now do they?" Barbara asks.

"Oh my god, no, they don't!" Barbara grins. "Atta girl."

"I don't get it." Oliver says, constrained.

"I can follow the homeless guy using street cams to figure out where he took the card from." Felicity says, as she works.

"So?"

Barbara picks up. "So, once she figures out where he got it from, she can play the street cams backwards to see who dropped it there -"

" - and get an ID on the kidnappers! It's running through facial recognition now!" Felicity announces.

"And that, is why she went to MIT and you didn't, Mr Queen." Barbara remarks.

"How do you know I went to MIT?"

Because I went there with you! Barbara thinks.

"I'm a Bat, it's my job to know these things." She says instead, smiling.

There's a ping from the computers and Felicity immediately calls out. "I have an ID for the kidnapper - Paul Sayer... and I have an address, 4th and Lahey!"

"I'd join you," Barbara says. "But I think you can handle this one."

"Yes, we can." Oliver grits out. She chuckles. "Alright, no need to get so pissy, friend. I'll see you when I see you." Barbara logs off and shuts down her laptop.

Sitting up, she stares around Felicity's apartment for a minute, before padding into the kitchen.

She can totally treat herself with ice cream for superhero-ing.


End file.
